Secret of the Mountains
by Kathryn Jones
Summary: She was the mountains' best kept secret. Now she has returned. Will her father accept her or will he tell her she is dead to him, like her mother?
1. Time Shall Tell

The Mountains' Best Kept Secret  
  
by Kathryn Irene Jones  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Christy. I'm not sure who does, but I know it isn't me, because if it were I'd have a lot more then four dollars in my purse.  
  
Summary- She was the mountains' best kept secret, almost a legend. Now she has returned. Will her father accept her? Or will he tell her she is dead to him, like her mother?  
  
Chapter One  
  
Time Shall Tell  
  
"Only you could have done this! You are dead to me, woman!" Neil MacNeil shouted at Margaret on the steps of the mission.   
  
Margaret opened her mouth to speak but he spoke again,"Don't even begin, I don't want to hear it. You took her away and never came back. You allowed me to think you were both dead. You are dead to me!" He climbed back onto his horse and galloped away.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Who did she take away, Miss Alice?" Christy asked, after hearing Miss Alice's story of Margaret's disappearance.  
  
"Their little girl. Little Allie." Miss Alice answered, sorrowfully. "No one knows where she is and now, Margaret has returned without her. It's the only sad part about this second chance."  
  
"Allie? Neil has never spoken of her."   
  
"I don't imagine he has. He searched for months for them both. I was the one who finally told him to give up. I believed Allie had drowned with Margaret." Miss Alice said.  
  
"Do you think maybe Margaret will tell you where she is?"  
  
After a pause Miss Alice answered. "No, Christy, I don't. The child is probably hidden somewhere in a boarding school of some sort. Margaret never wanted to be a mother but Neil, he loved that little girl. If only Margaret had left Allie behind! Neil would have taken care of her, I would have taken care of her." Miss Alice nearly shouted the last two sentences, almost sobbing in the end.  
  
"Oh, Miss Alice." Christy, too, looked like although she might cry. "What if I asked Neil about her? Could that do any good?"  
  
"Christy, I know thee means well, but I don't think Neil will talk to even thee about his daughter."  
  
"Could I try?"  
  
"Thee could, but I'd not do it now, wait and see if Margaret tells."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
What do y'all think? I have more spinning round my head but I want to know whether or not I should post it or not before I go to all that trouble. KJ 


	2. Truth Will Prevail

The Secret of the Mountains  
  
by Kathryn Irene Jones  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before, don't own anything, not even a full set of the tapes :(  
  
Summary: Same as before, it is, after all, the same story, did you expect it to change?  
  
A/N I know this is a little AU but in the book Margaret died in childbirth (I think, haven't read it for a while), and didn't run away. But I'm sort of combining the book and the TV series into this fanfic.  
  
Chapter Two  
  
The Truth Will Prevail  
  
Margaret left, never telling Neil or Miss Alice where Allie was. If she even knew anymore.  
  
"Neil, why didn't you ask her? You deserve your daughter,too." Christy demanded of him one day not long after Margaret had left.  
  
"With Margaret, things are different. I cannot ask her things. My child would not want to come here, her mother never did," was Neil's answer. But he didn't sound like he meant it.  
  
"Of course she would! What child wouldn't want to know her father?"  
  
"Christy." Neil said. "She would be nearly thirteen years old now, she knows her own mind. When Margaret left, Allie was barely four, she probably doesn't even remember Cutter Gap, much less me."  
  
"Neil, you're impossible. You sound although you never want to see your daughter, like you don't care about her." Christy couldn't let go of the subject.  
  
"Here are the supplies you came for. Take them and go." Neil said to her, stubborn as always.  
  
Christy sighed, took the package and left the MacNeill cabin.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Unbeknowest to those in Cutter Gap, the truth was soon to come out. Many hadn't even realized the doctor had had a child for Margaret had been unsocial to most of them and kept to herself.   
  
That night was rather stormy as many early spring nights are. The Reverend David Grantland, Christy, and Ruby Mae Morrison were sitting around the fire in the parlor area of the mission. David was concentrating on his latest sermon, Christy was grading papers and Ruby Mae was suppose to be working on her homework but instead was talking as always. None of them expected to hear anyone come to the mission.  
  
But as God would have it, someone did come.  
  
A young girl came through the rain that night and managed to find the mission although the mud and rain made it harder then ever. She came to the mission door, knocked, and waited for someone to answer.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Lordy, what is that?" Ruby Mae shrieked.   
  
"David, maybe you should go see, it could be Bird's Eye again, trying to make trouble." Christy said.  
  
"Of course. I'll go, it is probably just someone caught in the storm and wanting somewhere dry to stay the night." David replied, grinning. He got up and went to the door.  
  
"Hello. May I help you?" he asked the girl standing there.  
  
"I don't know. Do you know where Dr.Neil MacNeill lives?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, but you can't go there in this storm. Come on in, I or someone else will take you there tomorrow morning, when the storm is over." David told her.  
  
"Thank you." She walked into the house.  
  
"Lordamercy, it's a ghost! 'Course I don't know that ghosts can grow up, but lordamercy, look at her! Preacher, you better be careful!" Ruby Mae cried.  
  
"Ruby Mae, really." Christy said, laughing a bit. "Who are you anyway? I don't remember you ever coming to school."  
  
The girl allowed David to take her wet coat and sweater before answering, "I'm Alice Margaret MacNeill and I've come back."   
  
The room fell silent. For once, Ruby Mae was speechless.  
  
"Well, then. Where is your mother, Alice Margaret? She was here just a few weeks ago." David asked her.  
  
"I believe she has headed to London, with someone named Theodore. It's no matter anyway. She knew I would come here someday." Alice Margaret answered.  
  
"But you're dead! You can't be here!" Ruby Mae burst out. "I done told you to be careful, Preacher. Now you've let a ghost in here!"  
  
"You're Allie, aren't you?" Christy asked, gently.  
  
"No one calls me that anymore. Only my father did and when I saw her, my grandmother. She's Miss Alice Henderson, does she still live around here?" was Alice Margaret's answer.  
  
"Yes. And I know she'll be very happy to see you." Christy said, still in wonderment.  
  
"Do you have any bags with you? With dry clothes?" David asked. He had heard of Margaret MacNeill, but not Allie.  
  
"No. My things were left at the El Pano station." Alice Margaret said, shortly.  
  
"Well, I'm sure between Ruby Mae and myself, we can find you something dry to wear. Come on upstairs." Christy offered.  
  
"Thank you." The three headed upstairs.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   
  
End of Chapter Two.  
  
Review, review, review, please! And since probably someone is going ask why she is named Alice Margaret, it's because altho Neil always seems to disagree with Miss Alice, he also seems to have somewhat of a grudging respect for her and Margaret won't admit it but if she didn't care then she wouldn't have run home to the only people who cared about her. Margaret is obviously after her mother. The nickname is well, because it is a nickname for Alice and also the name of one of my friends. KJ (who has been rambling for too long now) 


End file.
